1. American and World Literature
Book Summary Strategy
American and World Literature

2. Writer’s Notebook Summary Practice
Watch International Rogue One Trailer
Brainstorm three big plotlines from the story.
Share with your partner
Share with the class

3. Purpose and Audience
Text Summary

4. Step One: Brainstorm the Text’s Big Ideas
Directions: Brainstorm EVERY moment in the story that might be relevant to the plot of the story. Write these down to prewrite prepare (for your book review.) You must turn in your brainstormed list in with your summary.

5. Divergent Brainstorm Example
Example: Brainstorm any significant moments in the book, Divergent, that might be relevant to the plot.
Examples for Divergent:
Edward is stabbed in the eye
Tris chooses the Dauntless faction
Peter and his gang bully Tris
Four and Tris win capture the flag
Four shows Tris his fear landscape
Tris faces her own fear landscape
Tris’ mother and father sacrifice themselves
Caleb chooses Erudite
Al commits suicide
Tris jumps off of the Hancock Tower
Tris gets a tattoo of crows that represent her family
Tris realizes that she is Divergent
Four and Tris defeat the Simulation
Jeanine takes over Four’s mind
The Dauntless faction start killing the Abnegation faction

6. Objective Summary Summaries do not have any opinion in them.
Don’t share your thoughts, feelings, or ideas about the plot or characters in the story.

7. Step Two: Write your Topic Sentence
The topic sentence is you introducing the book, author, AND how the story begins in one sentence:
Example: The book Divergent, by Veronica Roth, is the story of a teenage girl named Beatrice Prior who is learning how to survive on her own in dystopian Chicago
Non-example: The story is about a girl who leaves her family when she is 16. Discuss.
Non-example: The book, Divergent, is great. It is a story about dystopian society set in the future. Discuss.
Non-example: The story is about a teenage girl and boy who fall in love. Discuss.

8. Step Three: Decide upon the other Big Ideas
Decide upon three big moments in the story that develop the plot. Choose your moments wisely and make sure that you pace them well. Question: What do you notice about the sentences below?
Beatrice lives in a society divided in groups called factions and, at the beginning of the story, she rejects her own faction, Abnegation, for another faction called Dauntless.  After joining Dauntless, she must endure a series of initiation tests in order to gain membership into the faction.  Right as she begins to really succeed individually, she finds out she’s Divergent and a rival faction uses a mind control serum to control her new faction and kill many of her old faction, including her mother and father.

9. Step Four: Write the story’s ending
Conclude your summary by describing how the story ends . Start your sentence with the words, “At the end of the story...”
The story ends when Beatrice and her boyfriend, Four, destroy the computer controlling the serum and escape, setting up a sequel to the story

10. Summary Strategy Book Summary Instructions:
Sentence #1: Topic Sentence. Introduce the title and author of the book. Introduce how the story begins.
Sentences #2-4: Big Moments: Write down three big moments in the story that develop the plot. Choose your moments wisely and make sure that you pace them well.
Sentence #5: Conclude your summary by describing how the story ends . Start your sentence with the words, “At the end of the story...”

11. Example Book Summary: Divergent
The book Divergent by Veronica Roth is the story of a teenage girl named Beatrice Prior who is learning how to survive on her own in dystopian Chicago (Topic Sentence).  Beatrice lives in a society divided in groups called factions and, at the beginning of the story, she rejects her own faction, Abnegation, for another faction called Dauntless (Big Idea #1).  After joining Dauntless, she must endure a series of initiation tests in order to gain membership in the Dauntless faction (Big Idea #2).   Right as she begins to really succeed individually, she finds out she’s Divergent and a rival faction uses a mind control serum to control her new faction and kill many of her old faction, including her mother and father (Big Idea #3).   The story ends when Beatrice and her boyfriend, Four, destroy the computer controlling the serum and escape, setting up a sequel to the story (Conclusion).

12. Matt Sczcr and The Red Bandanna Summary Practice
Guided Practice
Brainstorm what happens and write the summary as a class.

13. The Fault in our Stars Summary Assignment
American Literature

14. Counterinsurgence and AIA Mock Summary Assignment
Get with a partner and read the instructions for your assignment

15. The Fault in our Stars Mock Summary
Directions: Get with a partner. Using the summary strategy that we’ve been practicing, summarize the plot of ONE of the fictional books in The Fault in our Stars: (Counterinsurgence: The Price of Dawn and An Imperial Affliction), piecing together the plot and storyline.
Use the book and the pages you’ve written down as a reference for your summary (and the plot of both books). Use some of your own ideas to fill the gaps, be creative, and have fun.